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Larry Audlaluk has a lot to tell

Jillian Dickens
Northern News Services

Grise Fiord (Nov 14/05) - Larry Audlaluk is fascinated by the place he calls home.

He not only works his butt off trying to bring people to the far North to explore Grise Fiord and its surrounding land, but he spends all his free time studying books on the North.

In recent years Audlaluk ran a little outfitting tour company, but he said the insurance rates are too high and the business is too slow for him to continue with it this year.

"Those problems combined are making it a big struggle now," said Audlaluk.

So in the meantime he feeds his brain with books, books, books.

His favourite subjects are Northern and polar history and the Second World War.

"I might be so interested in WWII because when I was young my mom would tell stories about these blond haired qallunaat around. I think they had something to do with the war."

Audlaluk met the son of Odak - the famous Inuk who guided Robert E. Peary ("the supposed North Pole conqueror," as Audlaluk put it) around the High Arctic.

He also met the descendants of Peary and his Inuk lover. The grandchildren now live in Qaanaq and Siorapluk, Greenland.

"I know them and the stories of their grandparents are very interesting."

"We've had contact with these people because they used to have the same hunting area as us, so we'd see them on the land. But now the traditional passage trail is no longer safe. But I still have contact with them."

The High Arctic is his true love, and he wasn't even born there.

Audlaluk was born in Inukjuak, Nunavik. He moved to Grise Fiord with his four other siblings, his mother and his father when he was still quite young.

His first day of school was not typical considering he was 12 at the time. This was in 1962.

He started really exploring the world and experiencing life hands-on ten years later.

His first big job was observer/communicator for various Arctic airports.

He was also a truck driver by trade for 11 years. But he hasn't done that job in awhile.

He now works on boards. As the Qikiqtani Inuit Association Grise Fiord director, he has a lot on his plate.

"I am very much involved with QIA activities, including NTI (Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.) AGMs."

When he's not driving a truck, organizing meetings or reading a fact-filled book, you can find the die-hard Northerner out on the land, hunting.

"I'm a hunter and at this time of the year I am enjoying hunting seals and looking for polar bears."

And if he won the lottery today?

"I would pay off all my credit cards and then buy a ship and start a transport service that charges regular rates to go north," said Larry. And if he had money left over "I would buy an aircraft station in Grise Fiord," and make sure cheaper tickets were available.